Matteo Maria Boiardo, count di Scandiano, (born May 1440/41, Scandiano, Papal States—died Dec. 19, 1494, Reggio nell’Emilia) poet whose Orlando innamorato, the first poem to combine elements of both Arthurian and Carolingian traditions of romance, gave new life to the chivalrous epic, which was declining in popularity. Boiardo spent much of his childhood at Ferrara, and served the dukes of Este. He was captain of the ducal forces at Modena from 1480 to 1482 and at Reggio from 1487 until his death.

His chief pleasures were in study and poetry, and he wrote numerous works, both in Latin and Italian. Of the Italian works, the Amorum libri tres (1499; “Three Books on Love”) tells of his love for Antonia Caprara and is among the most personal and spontaneous collections of 15th-century lyrics, written at a time when most love poetry was a conventional exercise. Orlando innamorato, begun about 1476, was intended to consist of three parts, but only the first two (published 1483) and part of the third were completed at the time of the poet’s death. Orlando innamorato (to which Ariosto’s Orlando furioso was conceived as a sequel) glorifies military honour, patriotism, and religion. The poem did not achieve popularity, partly because of its dialectical and erudite language, partly because of the careless construction of the episodes and characters, but chiefly because of its delineation of strong and primitive passions, which was not in tune with the tendencies of his time. Boiardo, however, breathed an intimate, personal strain into the stereotype of the epic that future generations emulated and expanded.

An English translation in verse by Robert Tofte appeared in 1598 and one in prose by W.S. Rose in 1823.

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...of the flowering of the vernacular. Ferrara saw literature and art flourish under the patronage of the ruling Este family and before the end of the 15th century counted at least one major poet, Matteo Boiardo, author of the Orlando innamorato, an epic of Roland. A blending of the Arthurian and Carolingian epic traditions, Boiardo’s Orlando inspired Ludovico Ariosto to take up...

...of France” and the “matter of Brittany,” which had degenerated into clichés, were given a new lease on life by two poets of very different temperament and education: Matteo Maria Boiardo, whose Orlando innamorato (1483; “Orlando in Love”) reflected past chivalrous ideals as well as contemporary standards of conduct and...

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(1441?-94). Italian poet Matteo Boiardo is known for his poem Orlando innamorato (Roland in Love), the first poem to combine elements of two traditions of epic romance-the British legends of King Arthur and the French legends based on the reign of the medieval emperor Charlemagne. The poem gave new life to the chivalrous epic, which was declining in popularity.